COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) -- A former professor at the University of Missouri in Columbia has been ordered to pay the university system $600,000 in damages in an intellectual property lawsuit.
The Columbia Missourian reports that a jury decided Wednesday that Galen Suppes violated his contract with the University of Missouri System and had been working in competition against the system.
The system's Board of Curators sued Suppes in 2009, alleging the former chemical engineering professor had filed for patents on inventions and assigned rights to outside entities without approval from the system. The system argued the university lost $3.7 million because of Suppes' actions.
Suppes' attorney argues there's no proof those actions actually cost the school money.
Suppes was fired from the university in 2016.